If MBA student Tim Forber was hoping for a quiet fortnight to study for impending exams, he'll have been disappointed. Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and the BNP all came to Oldham in the coming days ahead of the by-election – and Forber is the senior police officer in charge.

When The Cornerhouse cinema and retail complex needed expert help with using the internet for marketing, it turned to MBA students at its local business school. The recommendations made by the five students from Nottingham Business School have led The Cornerhouse marketing team to develop mobile phone applications to let customers book tickets online and access information on businesses in the complex.

Given the cost of an MBA programme at a top school, it is no surprise that most MBA students have their minds sharply focused, not just on the lessons they will learn from the experience, but where they will be applying them after they have graduated.

The NT Live screenings of Rory Kinnear's Hamlet in November and Derek Jacobi as King Lear on 3 February at a cinema near you trace their origins to the MBA programme at Cambridge Judge Business School.

In the final of The Apprentice earlier this month, the eventual winner Yasmina Siadatan had to explain to an audience of confectionery professionals why she had twinned strawberry with basil in her upmarket range of chocolates. In this case, her business nouse proved less important than her lack of public-speaking experience.